Having vegetarian does not mean you're stuck with salads, three-veg steamed to death and fifty ways to cook potatoes. Here are my favourite fuss-free vegetarian recipes that can be made any day of the week. So enjoy, experiment and eat, eat, eat.
Warning: Be aware of chillies on the menu...

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Bok Choy Specials

Bok Choy

Bok Choy was on special at the local market the other day and we ended up with 2 kilos worth. So guess what we’ll be eating all week… same veg, different dish. Here are two I tried out:

The first version is what you’d expect from this ‘Chinese vegetable’, a stir-fry. From Margaret Fulton’s ‘Encylcopedia of Food & Cookery’, the original recipe is titled Baby Bok Choy with Oyster Sauce. However, my version should be called Mature Bok Choy with No Oyster Sauce.

Then everything else on Ms Fulton’s list except for 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, though I was thinking that black bean sauce, Hoisin sauce or other vegetarian sauce could have been substituted

* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

* 1 teaspoon sesame oil

* 4 cloves garlic, chopped

* 1 tablespoon ginger, finely grated

* 1 teaspoon soy sauce

* 2 teaspoons rice wine vingegar

* ½ teaspoon cornflour

(* Oh and I added 1 teaspoon of salt, not on the list of ingredients)

What I did:

Mixed soy sauce, cornflour, rice wine vinegar in a glass and set it aside.

Heated vegetable and sesame oils in a pan. Added sliced mushrooms straight from the supermarket container. Fried until the mushrooms lost their ‘raw look’. Added garlic and ginger, stir-fried for a minute as Ms Fulton suggests. Added bok choy and tossed until wilted. Then added sauce mixture, until vegetables were coated. Took off fire.

The second bok choy dish is adapted from a Leeks White Curry recipe in Chandra Dissanayake’s ‘Ceylon Cookery’ book. (Never miss a chance!). This is the adapted Bok Choy Very Yellow Curry.

What I used:

* 500g bok choy, washed well and sliced finely.

* ½ teaspoon turmeric

* ½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds

* ¾ cup coconut cream diluted in ¾ cup water

* 1 small onion, chopped

* 2 green chillies, chopped

* 1 sprig of curry leaves

* 1 teaspoon salt

* Extra ½ cup of coconut cream (undiluted)

What I did:

Separated the sliced bok choy stems from the sliced leaves.

Added the sliced stems and all other ingredients (EXCEPT the extra half cup of coconut cream) into a saucepan.

Cooked on high heat until mixture boiled, then added the extra half cup of coconut cream. Cooked again until curry starts to boil.

Fenugreek seeds

Then took off fire and added the sliced bok choy leaves. This is to retain some of the green-ness of the leaves, which will cook in the heat of the curry.